Dornbirn 6/12/2011

We had the car today because we are going on a trip around Austria this week and so we decided to go visit the Dornbirn ward again and walk around town after. This was Spencer's 2rd area.

 The church house in Dornbirn.

 Spencer's old apartment building.

 The city center and then more pictures from around town.

Holunder Sirup (Elderberry Syrup) 6/10/2011

So Spencer had told me how much he liked Holunder Sirup when he was on his mission and so after we got here we bought some so I could try it. It is a thick syrup you add to water to make juice. Then our landlady started taking about making Holunder Sirup and we realized they had a lot of bushes of Holunder around. So Spencer asked me to learn how to make it. So here is my syrup making fun. Our only problem now is trying to find out if we have the same type of Elderberry at home so I can still make it for Spencer at home.

 You make it out of the flowers when they are in full bloom.

 Then you add some lemons, sugar, water, etc.

Then you let everything sit for at least 24 hours and cook and seal in your jars. It is very easy and very good. I just hope we can figure out if we have the same Elderberries at home because from our research so far many types have poisonous parts and so we wouldn't want to use those. If anyone knows anything about this I would greatly appreciate anything that might help.

Fun with our girl, from 6/10/2011-6/26/2011

 We came in the room to find Elise "doing" Spencer's homework. Maybe he really doesn't know how to do his own school work.

 Apparently daddy makes a good pillow or in this case leg rest.

 A flohmarkt (flea market) in Bad Waldsee. It rained on us so we didn't stay very long but we did find a couple of cute German books for Elise.

 Me and bread in Germany have issues. I left it for the amount of time it said and opened the oven to this. Elise thought it was very cool though. She kept poking it saying, "bowl, lost". It was very tasty bread anyway.

 It was such a nice day that Melanie, Max, Elise and me went to walk around the lake and play at the playground. The kids thought this was great and we had a hard time convincing them that there was more toys if we walked a little farther.

 Max and Elise would have stayed and played all night but thunder clouds moved in and we had to come home. But I think they both slept well because they played very hard.

 Elise loves to play with the five clothespins we have. She thinks it is hilarious to put them all over her or us.

 Elise doing her morning exercises with us. I don't know why she needed her head on the wall but I guess helps.

 Elise and her new creation. We need to get the video up of this but until then Elise wanted sausages and yogurt for supper. She then proceeded to dip her sausage in her yogurt. This seems to be her new favorite way to eat sausage. (Thanks a lot Aunt Lydia :) j/k)

 Elise taking care of her baby. We still haven't figured out where she has seen pacifiers lately but apparently her baby needed one and the one she made out of play dough was perfect. Such a good little mommy.

 Elise sitting with her baby. They both had their "drinks" with them but I don't think you can see the baby's bottle.

 Our little model. She wanted her boots to walk over to the pool. Add a water gun in each hand and you surely must have the latest or upcoming fashion.

 Elise loves to play in the pool with the boys. I think they would all stay there all day if we let them.

Affenberg (Monkey Mountain) 5/19/2011

So today we went to Salem, Germany (about 1 hour away) with our friends Melanie, Martin and Max to visit Monkey Mountain. It is a place that has about 200 Barbary Macaques (Monkeys) that wander freely within a 20 acre area. They are an old world monkey species that is native to Africa but are endangered so there are a few areas that have habitats for them in hopes of preserving them. So when you go you wander along a path with popcorn in your hands and the monkeys will come to you and you can feed them popcorn. I really wasn't sure Elise would like doing this but I think it helped to have Max to watch because after the first couple of monkeys came she had the hang of it and wanted to fed every monkey she saw. It helped too that Spencer and her found an old, lazy monkey that just sat there and carefully took the popcorn from her.

They have regular feeding spots that they feed the monkeys at, at specific times of day so that they will gather and people can see a lot of them. The caretaker also told us some about the monkeys and pointed out the oldest, youngest, leader, etc.

Elise found a very eager monkey while she was watching them feed the monkeys. A younger monkey came and sat on the fence by her so she held out her had to give it popcorn. One problem, you are supposed to put one piece of popcorn in an open hand for the monkeys to take because they want all the popcorn they can see. Well Elise had a piece in her fingers that she was trying to hand him but she also had a handful of popcorn in her fist. The monkey kept trying to take the popcorn in her fist because there was more but Elise kept telling it no and pulling her hand back so it could have what was in her fingers. After a couple of rounds of this the monkey grabbed Elise's hand and went after the popcorn. After freeing Elise I thought she wouldn't want to feed anymore monkeys but somehow that didn't deter her at all.

Elise and Max climbed up onto this log bench to sit and then all of a sudden two little monkeys climbed on just like you see them. Elise was not so sure about monkeys surrounding her and didn't want to sit there for very long.

Elise and Max telling us all about...everything!

There were a few other animals outside of the monkeys area like deer, frogs, ducks and storks. I'm not sure I have ever seen a place where storks nest but there are a lot here and it was really cool to see. All the roof tops have at least one nest and this time of year they were all full with baby storks.

Swimming 6/5/2011

We came home from church today and Max asked Elise if she wanted to play in the swimming pool her. They couldn't resist the beautiful weather. They both absolutely loved it until it finally got to cloudy and cold to stay in any longer.

 Elise being just like Max and jumping in. She is a little fish. She really liked to jump in an make the water splash every where.

 Max jumping in and Elise cheering him on.

 By this time Max was getting a little cold but if he was asked as he is standing there shivering he would say that he wasn't cold, that he was getting warmer. He was not about to get out if Elise was still going to play and I don't think Elise even felt the cold. We finally had to convince her that it was time to get out for the day.

Blutritt 6/3/2011

Weingarten has a big procession every year the day after Ascesion where they take a sacred relic around town. The whole procession is horses and musical bands. It brings about 3000 riders every year. Elise loves seeing horses so we decided to go watch the horses. The whole parade lasts for about 6 hours but we went for about an hour to an hour and a half. Elise loved watching the horses and when there was a break so that the cars could go through the line Elise would look and then point to more horses across the intersection and yell "More" so we all knew that there were more horses coming. 

 These two reminded us of Spencer's parents Clydesdale team Forest and Finly. There markings are very close even if they are a little bulkier.